Last Wednesday, the City of Launceston council voted to write to the state government encouraging them to lead a community conversation about a name that continues to offend - The (John) Batman Bridge.

Frankly, the council could act quickly and in their own backyard by considering the commemorative history pavers in Civic Square. There remains an opportunity for truth telling, as uncomfortable as it may be, through acknowledging the murderous role that John Batman played in the "Black Wars".

The council's motion followed brave and laudable efforts of George Town councillors Parkes and Dawson who moved and seconded a motion to begin discussions with neighbouring councils regarding the placement of a plaque at Batman Bridge to acknowledge First Nations people.

"I think it's no secret that for many decades that particular area has been an area of great connection for the Aboriginal community," Cr Parkes said.

Cr Dawson told me: "To move a mountain one has to start with the smallest pebble".

The response from the community was as swift as it was predictable.

I eventually stopped reading the posts and prayed for editorial intervention.

The 'gentle art of persuasion' is far from gentle.

Social media, for all the positives it delivers, can be abrupt, aggressive, demoralising, frustrating, and saddening - feelings that can be encountered during just one interaction.

Persuasion requires patience and persistence - a challenging task and one that often urges you to take your bat and ball and go home.

William Cooper, an acclaimed aboriginal activist, led the establishment the Australian Aborigines League in 1934. The purpose of their collective action was to ensure that there was "a fair deal for the dark race".

Cooper, born in 1861, lived on the Cummeragunja and Maloga missions. He made the difficult decision to move to Footscray in the latter years of his life as it was the only way he could receive the old age pension. Cooper died in 1941.

His great nephew, Douglas Nicholls a yorta yorta man, played 52 games for Fitzroy, was the first Aboriginal to represent Victoria, was Knighted by Queen Elizabeth II, and became Governor of South Australia.

The Sir Doug Nicholls Round, culminating in Dreamtime at the 'G, is played in his honour. Nathan Lovett Murray who donned the sash 145 times for Essendon is his great-grandson.

In 2018 following a redistribution, the Federal Division formally and known as Batman was changed to Cooper in honour of his life's work.

John Batman, who played a role in the founding of Melbourne, was probably the first colonial to ascend Ben Lomond. He would later be accompanied on his expeditions by his neighbour the landscape painter John Glover. Glover described Batman as, "a rogue, thief, cheat and liar, a murderer of blacks and the vilest man I have ever known".

Governor Arthur, who was not without blood on his hands, said Batman "... had much slaughter to account for".

But thousands of years before European settlement the plangermairreenner, plindermairhemener, and tonenerweenerlarmenneclans (Ben Lomond tribe) called the mountain turbunna.

Hauntingly, following colonisation, it became a region synonymous with murder, dispossession, the Black Line, and "black catching".

As journalist Adam Holmes stated in The Examiner: "This is a man who established roving parties to round up Aboriginals, including an ambush on a family group at Ben Lomond. As the men, women and children fled, Batman ordered his men to fire upon them, allegedly killing at least a dozen. Four were captured, including two men who suffered severe wounds. When they were unable to walk, Batman recorded in his journal: 'I was obliged to shoot them'."

Following the murderous rampage, Batman took a woman called Luggenemener and her two-year-old son, Rolepa, captive. He sent her to Campbell Town Gaol, cruelly separating her from her son who he kept at his property to raise. Batman relayed his decision to British Colonial Secretary, John Burnett via correspondence on September 7,1829. He refused to hand over the boy to Governor Arthur. Rolepa died at just 15 years of age. His mother, Luggenemener, died on Flinders Island in 1837.

Mrs W and I met in the Batman Fawkner Inn, which was renamed in 1981, more than a quarter of a century ago. It has been renamed again, reclaiming the original title of The Cornwall - a nod to the past, but like the Federal Division no longer associated with John Batman.

And whilst there were so many atrocities committed against First Nations people during colonisation and a vastly different time, the despicable behaviour of John Batman should no longer be acknowledged by a bridge in his honour.

Batman Bridge, the first cable-stayed bridge in Australia and a reminder of ingenuity and innovative engineering, was opened in 1968, not 1829 when John Batman chose to wipe out entire families under turbunna. The tenuous link between Batman Bridge, so called cancel culture, and the need to protect John Batman's name is baffling.

In 2021 we could never imagine naming anything after a mass murderer 140 years after the atrocity was committed.

But in the end whilst it is difficult to change people's minds, all we can do is provide further information to educate, empower, and persuade.